MARTINEZ — After giving most of their employees raises of about four percent in contract negotiations this year, Contra Costa supervisors Tuesday decided they deserved something more: a 33 percent hike, boosting their annual salaries to more than $129,000 a year.

By a 4-1 vote, the supervisor salaries will now be permanently tied to those of Superior Court judges, which is a common practice among county boards throughout the state and eliminates the need for the elected bodies to vote themselves an unpopular pay bump.

In Contra Costa, the salaries are now set at 70 percent of judicial salaries, a percentage one supervisor said put them in the middle of the pack. Their salaries are now the fourth-highest among their counterparts in eight other Bay Area counties.

Alameda and Santa Clara set their salaries at 80 percent of the judges’ pay, Marin at 60 percent and Solano at 47 percent. San Mateo supervisor salaries are set by ordinance, and San Francisco supervisor salaries are adjusted by the city’s Civil Service Commission every five years.

Supervisor John Gioia called the pay raise decision “one of the most unpleasant tasks we have to face,” as he explained why he supported the vote to take future compensation decisions out of the board’s hands by linking it to the judge salaries, which are set by the state Legislature.

“We make a change once and be done … and not change it any more,” he said.

He also told workers in the audience: “We understand some of your salaries need to be adjusted.”

The lone dissenter, Supervisor Candace Andersen, said the huge bump was “too much to do at once,” and made a motion to phase in a 3 to 4 percent annual raise. It failed to garner support and the motion died.

“A raise of this magnitude is not acceptable to the public and our employees,” Andersen said. “We need to lead by example … 33 percent is just too much.”

Andersen received loud applause by a labor-heavy audience that vacillated between outrage at the pay hikes to optimism that they had renewed leverage in future negotiations with the board.

A county clerk and member of AFSCME Local 2700 said pay for her job classification was below salaries in the same counties surveyed by the supervisors, but “it was implied that (the survey comparisons) wasn’t the consideration, only the matter of how much money was available.”

Other labor leaders took the opportunity to use a similar county salary survey in negotiations: “We look forward to using them in the future,” one said. “Fair is fair.”

After the vote the crowd chanted “Shame on you, shame on you.”

The supervisors’ pay raise from $97,476 to $129,216 takes effect in January. All five supervisors’ raises will add $235,000 in annual expenses to the budget, $66,876 of which is pension costs, according to a staff report. Contra Costa supervisors will make more than those in San Francisco, who earn less than $111,000 annually.

It isn’t the first time the Contra Costa supervisors have weathered the wrath of workers by giving themselves a generous raise. In 2006, their pay jumped 60 percent, from just under $60,000 to $95,568, after hammering out contracts with 5,800 county employees.

The supervisors last pay increase — a 2 percent cost of living adjustment — happened in 2007. They took a pay cut from 2009 to 2013, as did all county employees, making them the lowest paid among the state’s urban counties and second lowest in the Bay Area, according to a survey produced by staff. Contra Costa supervisors govern the third largest population in the region, with more residents than San Francisco.

Supervisor Mary Piepho highlighted the fact that even with the raises, the supervisors’ salaries would rank near the bottom of Contra Costa’s department heads.

Contra Costa firefighters Local 1230 official Vito Impastato, whose union is in contract negotiations with the county since the last contract expired in June, was one of the few in the crowd to support raises for the supervisors and he said he hopes to hammer one out for firefighters too.

“We recognize the importance of raises,” he said. “We also recognize you have to have salary surveys to see what other people are making.”

By contrast, Ken Westermann, president Contra Costa Deputy Sheriffs union, said the supervisors’ large salary increase was offensive.

“The message it sends to employees is it completely undermines the collective bargaining process,” he said.

In a rare show of solidarity, the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association representative agreed with labor and panned the pay increase.

The rule announced by the administration of President Donald Trump in June would allow health care institutions and many types of workers to refuse services on religious grounds and would deny federal health, welfare and education funds to state and local governments that don't comply.